Sonic: Beyond
by LegionPlatform1183
Summary: Sonic: Beyond - a dystopian, futurist fan-fiction which stars Sonic the Hedgehog as a grizzled, down-and-out private detective who has all but lost his speed and is haunted by his past.
1. Intro

It was some 20 years since Sonic the Hedgehog had emerged victor of the battle for Green Hill Zone, defeating Robotnik and freeing countless innocent lives along the way. The very people who he had saved along the way moved into the cities and green spaces in their droves, working, populating, consuming and whatever else city folk did. Sonic was held-up as a hero in an opening ceremony which saw the Green Hill Zone undergo a "revamp" by Mayor Chestnut Jr. It was to be given new life by having housing built upon it, commercial zones, offices and a number of other populous generating ventures. Sonic now worked as a private investigator, still pining away at the injustices that continued to plague the world he lived in. What ate him up more than anything was the "new world" he helped to create was becoming just as crime-ridden as it was when he was an active rebel against Robotnik's regime… and the very individuals he had saved were contributing to destroying the land he fought all of his life to save.


	2. Chapter 1

Sonic the Hedgehog was making his way across the Green Hill Strip – a seedy street that seemingly looped on for infinity, an elongated grey slab illuminated with neon signs and occasionally painted in dark coloured booze or crimson blood. He was on his way back from another late night at his office, working on various and plentiful open cases from around the area. His hand burrowed into his overcoat and re-emerged clasping a box of Golden Ring cigarettes. Placing one between his lips and bringing a lighter up to it, he was suddenly interrupted by a man rushing out of an apartment complex.

 **MAN:** "M-m-mr. Hedgehog!"

Sonic all but froze, apart from the tired eyes which rolled to meet him with disdain. The man was a rabbit, of average height, looks and clothing. Living in this part of town he can't have been too well off.

 **MAN:** "I'm sorry to disturb you Mr. Hedgehog, but I've tried to phone for the police and they say they are too busy to deal with this problem immediately."

Sonic's fallen face let out a sigh.

 **SONIC:** "What is it?"

 **MAN:** "It's… there's people fighting on the top floor of the apartment, I know that you're a detective, not a cop, but I think someone is going to really get hurt."

Sonic's face didn't move.

 **MAN:** "Besides… you know the people fighting…"

Sonic's eyes narrowed and he plucked the cigarette from his mouth and methodically placed it back into its box, while nodding at the apartment behind the rabbit man, who rushed off leading the way.

 **MAN:** "It's right up here."

They must have gone up 5 flights of stairs; Sonic didn't disguise his lack of patience in the slightest.

 **SONIC:** "How many more?"

 **MAN:** "It's about another 3-4 floors up, but there's no way I'm going all the way."

Upon hearing that they were only halfway Sonic stopped in his tracks and looked disgusted. He grumpily shook his head and reached for his cigarettes once more. Just as he was about to light one on his second attempt, a toaster came flying past him at a ferocious rate and continued to fall down the middle of the flight of stairs until it crashed to the floor below, followed by the sound of a man and woman arguing. Upon surveying the mess it had made, Sonic and the rabbit's heads slowly raised from the floor below them to meet each other's. Sonic's attention moved the ground directly in front of him to see his cigarette had fallen out of his mouth and dropped onto the floor in his shock.

His face fell into itself in a twisting frown and he let out a frustrated growl and began to quickly pace up the stairs with conviction.

 **MAN:** "Uh, I'll wait here…"

There was no response to that, Sonic made his way to the top of the building without thinking of it. He saw a door down the corridor slamming and heard the shouting voices behind it continuing.

Taking a deep breathe, Sonic marched down the hall and to the apartment in question. With the hand not currently resting in his coat pocket, he knocked on the door. In response, it swung open and he was hit with the sight of greasy, red hair and the trademark spikey-knuckled hands holding an open bottle of beer.

 **SONIC:** "What the hell?"

 **KNUCKLES:** "What are you doing here?"

Before he had the chance to answer he heard a shrieking from behind.

 **WOMAN:** "I said GET OUT!"

A vase came flying past both Knuckle's and Sonic's head and smashed on the wall adjacent to the apartment.

 **SONIC:** "Goddammit!"

 **KNUCKLES:** "What in the hell are you doing, woman?!"

Knuckles turned back and went into the apartment. After composing himself Sonic decided to step into the warzone himself. 'Why didn't I just go home?' he thought to himself. Knuckles and the woman were arguing – it was all noise that Sonic's tired ears couldn't be bothered to interpret. But something caught his eye; he recognised the woman the Knuckles was arguing with. She had long eyelashes and some kind of light fabric protruding from her back. 'Wait… that's not fabric' he thought, 'those are wings!'

 **WOMAN:** What are you doing over here?

 **SONIC:** Rogue?

 **ROGUE:** I never thought I'd see the day where I'd see your blue skin again, thought you went off some place and died.

 **KNUCKLES:** Hey! We were talking about how you nearly killed me, remember?

 **ROGUE:** This is my apartment! And I don't want you in here anymore! With your stringy red hair, bloodshot eyes, stinking of alcohol – I want you out of here. You're a deadbeat!

Rogue turned and began to walk away.

 **KNUCKLES:** Don't you talk to me like that! Don't walk away from me!

Knuckles grabbed her arm, Rogue broke free and struck him on the chest, to which Knuckles responded to by using his other arm to whip across her face. The force of the blow caused her to fall to the floor.

 **SONIC:** Hey!

Sonic grabbed Knuckles by his dirty, worn vest.

 **SONIC:** You're out of line, Knuckles.

 **KNUCKLES:** Oh, get fucked, Hedgehog!

Knuckles broke free of his grip and Sonic felt a sharp pain in his side as Knuckles landed a punch to his ribs, to which he responded to by falling to a knee and wheezing.

Meanwhile, Knuckles made his way over to the kitchenette and grabbed another beer bottle and opened it casually.

 **KNUCKLES:** Unless someone can make me leave, I'm staying right here.

He took a swig of beer, glugging it down.

'Goddammit!' Sonic thought, 'that's it!'

He stood up tall and felt the pain shoot through his ribs as his body stretched out, he then removed his arm from one of the sleeves in his overcoat and threw the whole thing to the floor. Knuckles looked up from his inebriated state.

 **KNUCKLES:** "Oh, you want some more?"

Sonic did not say a word, he simply walked up to him with his fists clenched. Knuckles responded by throwing the bottle across the room.

 **KNUCKLES:** "Well alright then"

As soon as Sonic got close, Knuckles threw a wild left swing at him, but just as he had thrown it, Sonic was no longer there. Before he could process what had happened, the side of Knuckles' head was struck from a phantom fist. He stumbled and almost fell to the floor, but his wobbly legs managed to steady him.

 **KNUCKLES:** "Okay, if that's the way you want it."

Knuckles turned to face a now visible foe. Sonic, still calm, stood before Knuckles, who raised his fists like a boxer. He ran at sonic with a heavy right fist, only to find nothing again and receive to quick jabs across the back of his head. He grasped at his head frustratedly and let out a yell, knocking over some various items on a nearby counter in a rage. Turning to Sonic once more, he blew out a heavy breathe and slapped himself in the face a few times.

 **KNUCKLES:** "You got me, but it's not going to happen again, hedgehog. You think you're so much better than me and everyone else. Well you're not the hero you think you are."

He cautiously approached Sonic with his fists raised once more, Sonic began to move forwards slowly and Knuckles backed up in response. Their eyes met and Knuckles' attention became focused on a shiny bead of sweat forming on Sonic's forehead. With all the concentration he could muster he watched the outline of the hedgehog carefully and as soon as he saw its contour moving he opened up his arms and grabbed. The moment he felt something touching his skin he gripped down as hard as he could – he had the hedgehog by his creased, button-up shirt.

 **KNUCKLES:** "You should dress more casually"

Knuckles bundled into Sonic and pushed him across the room and into a wall, knocking over a lamp in the process. Sonic suddenly felt missiles striking his midriff as Knuckles unloaded on him.

 **KNUCKLES:** "You know, that's the thing about old age, hedgehog..."

Sonic felt the warm, beer-stained breathe on his skin.

 **KNUCKLES:** "Strength lasts longer than speed."

After he delivered this line he pushed Sonic's head down and drove a knee into his stomach, before gripping him with both hands and throwing him clear across the room and into the wall on the opposite side, which cracked and crumbled in response. Sonic thudded to the floor in a pile of plaster and dust, his body ravaged with pain.

On the opposite side of the room, Knuckles was pacing around proudly, breathing heavy and dusting himself off. Sonic tried to get up, but his body was not receiving the messages his brain was sending. He managed to raise his head, as dust fell from his hair and past his eyes.

 **KNUCKLES:** "I guess we know who'd be the leader of the squad now, huh, hedgehog? It's only taken… oh, about 20 years for me to knock the rings out of you."

Sonic's shoulders seemed to gain strength and very slowly he began to push his chest off the floor.

 **KNUCKLES:** "Are you sure you want me to finish you off?"

The words came from the echidna's bloody mouth, as opposed to Sonic's grazed and bloody face. He had worked his way up to one knee now and the adrenaline was numbing the pain somewhat.

 **KNUCKLES:** "Don't say I didn't warn you."

As Knuckles cracked his fingers, Sonic looked up at him with sweaty blue hair covering his face. Rogue had just begun to regain consciousness and looked up at the battleground that the two had created. And with that, a great blaze of light shot across the room and collided with Knuckles, the force causing him to crash through the apartment window and hurtle down the side of the building until the sound and sight of a red and blue body thudded onto the roof of a large truck. This was soon joined by a hail of glass raining down onto the floor.

The two bodies lay totally still. A shocked, furry face of a rabbit appeared in a window of the apartment as the man surveyed the chaos below. Sonic's eyelids twitched slightly and he saw a blurry sight of buildings of unrecognisable size surrounding him, he was as close to being unconscious as he physically could be. As both of the men lay on the ruined, dented roof of the truck he placed one of his Golden Ring cigarettes into his mouth and ignited the end.


End file.
